1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display control apparatuses and display control methods for controlling display of image content, and more specifically, relates to display control apparatuses and display control methods for scaling display size of images in accordance with environments in which the image content is viewed.
2. Description of the Related Art
To date, image standards for digital broadcasting have been classified into a high-definition television (HD) type and a standard-definition television (SD) type. At present, research studies on Super Hi-Vision and the like are being conducted, and a high-definition and highly realistic image standard superior to HD (hereinafter referred to as OverHD) will take the place of HD in the future. With this, display apparatuses will have higher resolutions, and the screen size thereof will also be increased. On the other hand, it is anticipated that HD content and SD content will still be in existence together with OverHD content.
When low-resolution content is enlarged and displayed in a high-resolution display capable of displaying OverHD, the images are unacceptably blurred, and the image quality is significantly degraded. When OverHD content being viewed is switched to SD content, viewers perceive a particularly significant degradation in image quality. Discomfort or uneasiness experienced by viewers due to such a difference in resolution depends on viewing environment. For example, when high-resolution content being viewed is switched to low-resolution content under the following conditions, discomfort caused by a difference in resolution is further increased.
1. When the viewing distance is short.
2. When the screen is large.
3. When the viewing duration is long.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-058101 describes an image display apparatus capable of changing the display size in accordance with the viewing distance.
However, the display size is uniquely determined with respect to the resolution of detected image signals in the image display apparatus described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-058101. Therefore, the display size cannot be adaptively controlled in accordance with the degree of a reduction in resolution. As a result, discomfort experienced by viewers due to a difference in resolution cannot be sufficiently eased. Moreover, low-resolution images are always displayed on a reduced scale, and the benefit of large-screen displays cannot be sufficiently enjoyed.